"Some
of this is simply about perspective. Some pros
view the Colossus as really a 2k tournament,
having fired four bullets. For them having
invested up to $2k and fighting 22,000 entrants
they want a bigger upside. Predictably it's the
pros and semipros who have been going nuts,
while the casual players I've talked to are just
as happy to cash, and chase a half million as a
whole million. Unless, one of them wins it
probably none of them will care if the first
place doesn't make a million. Course, for future
years a one million dollar first place makes a
better sell. The WSOP says the Millionaire Maker
is the spot for that. I say if you have 22,000
people in a $565 tournament you need to find
room for another spot to give out a million
dollars for a nominal buy-in."[+]

[UPDATED
06/07/15] Jonathan Little has more tournament winnings than only
a handul of pros. At 24, he had already
eclipsed 4 million dollars in lifetime
winnings . The WPT Season VI player of the year, Jonathan
was born in Pensacola Florida and currently
operates a new poker site, which includes his
blogs and videos you can find it
here.

"Every summer, poker players from all over the
world flock to Las Vegas for the World Series of
Poker. Luckily for the professional players,
most of these visitors have little to no chance
to actually come away with a big score because
they set themselves up to fail from the start.
To last the seven weeks at the WSOP you must
remain focused and ready to play your “A” game
the entire time.Here are a few tips that
will greatly increase your expectation at any
tournament series without even mentioning how to
technically play poker.." [+]

[UPDATED 06/07/15] Nolan Dalla.com is where you find the
wit and wisdom of one of the most well known
poker writers in the industry. His WSOP
coverage speaks for itself. His home blog
covers a wide range of topics written
with that singular Dalla conviction.

"I just learned Eskimo Clark died.He passed
away a few months ago here in Las Vegas. His
death went unnoticed within the poker community,
until Chad Holloway from PokerNews.com uncovered
the details of his passing and posted an
announcement along with a feature story late
last night. One presumes no one recognized
Eskimo at the end of his life, nor made the
connection to his many exploits and achievements
in poker.He’d become forgotten already, even
before he passed away.Like old soldiers,
some poker players don’t die. They just fade
away. Eskimo faded from relevance to the poker
scene years ago. It’s easy now to forget his
deserving place among the legendary gamblers we
so often revere, those with the great poker
faces masking not just the cards, but perpetual
lives of isolation, and even loneliness.I
didn’t know Eskimo well. I don’t think many of
us did. He’s wasn’t an easy man to get to know.
Perhaps no one really knew Eskimo, aside from
the all-too familiar grumpy caricature we got so
used to seeing out in the hallways at every big
poker event, occasionally embellished with yet
another funny story about his obvious
degeneracy. What we did learn from Holloway’s
research was that long before he became a poker
pro and full-time gambler, he served as a medic
in Vietnam. "

[UPDATED
08/22/14] Shannon Shorr has graduated. That's bad
news for the poker world because he's terrorized the circuit
while also being a full time college student. Now without
distractions, like class every day, the only question is how
quickly will he add to his over 3.2 million dollars in
tournament winnings. You can also read Shannon's blog at
his homepage:
http://shannonshorr.com/

"Hey friends! At 6:34 a.m. local time
Friday I summited the world's largest
free-standing mountain, Mount Kilimanjaro with
my buddies Jesse and Paul Yaginuma! I consider
it one of my biggest personal achievements and
got so much out of the journey. The idea was
proposed by Jesse and Paul over a year ago. I
initially laughed it off thinking it was an
unattainable goal. I'm really, really, really
glad I looked further into it. A big thank you
to the Yaginumas for being such cool fucking
guys with ambition and a strong desire to live
their lives to the fullest. This reiterates to
me just how essential it is that we all keep an
openmind about everything. Opening one's mind
isn't a process that happens overnight. It's a
matter of being exposed to different people,
things and places. I'll take this platform,
however small it is, to try to express that
through this documentation of my Kilimanjaro
experience:"[+]

[UPDATED
02/15/15] David Mendez grinds online poker at a
time when it's hard to find a game. His
blog centers on his poker both live and online.

"Hey everybody, glad to be back for the second
time. Let’s talk money! Allow me to be more
specific. Let’s talk A LOT of money. Let’s talk
about the PEAK of on-line poker since black
Friday, here & now! I wanted to get the word out
sooner but the end of the year found me on a
tremendous heater.

Christmas came a bit early with a 2nd place
score in the Winning Poker Network’s (WPN)
Sunday $12,500 guarantee for over $2,000. The
next day I shipped 1st in the $1,000 rebuy/add-on
for over $400. The next day I was able to place
3rd in the $15,000 guarantee for $ 1,750. In
that same day I was able to ship 1st in the
$2,000 guaranteed 4-max for $500. It was a blast
being at the final table of two tournaments
SIMULTANEOUSLY! That was a first for me. It
didn’t stop there, though."[+]

[11/02/14]
Jennifer Gay is a poker player, poker room supervisor and
Ante Up Magazine Poker Columnist local to
Tunica, MS. Her blog covers the sometimes personal and
always comical reality of a life fully centered around poker in
the South.

"Dear Tony,

I'm sure the last few days have been a blur. To
sum up..in the early hours of Halloween morning,
you had an accident. I like to think you were
speeding through the desert after a night of
debauchery, with a beautiful woman on the back
of your motorcycle. I'm probably not far off the
mark. It didn't end well this time, buddy. On
All Saints Day, it was decided that we'd lost
you for good. In typical Tony style, you hung
around just long enough for the Vikings to lock
up a win and Dallas to get smashed by Arizona. I
hope whatever is waiting for you on the other
side is ready for the force that is Tony Dick.
If you get a spare minute, find a way to let me
know you made it. If they have Facebook in the
afterlife, your wall is a glowing tribute to how
many people loved you. Its also the least
offensive and most polite your page has been
since its inception. " [+]

[UPDATED: 03/28/13]
David Clark bagged more points than any other at large qualifier on the WSOP this year. The Texan has been blogging and
winning for some time now.

"Rocky road to the Rocky Mountains.

La recently decided she wanted to add the Colorado Black Hawk
circuit stop to the schedule. I wasn’t convinced. I was enjoying
the beautiful Dallas weather, sleeping in our bed, and getting
some much needed exercise. I eventually told her she should go
by herself if she wanted to grind, but I didn’t feel like it and
I didn’t think there would be much Omaha action for me anyway.
She wasn’t very happy about the idea of traveling without me and
decided to make a few last minute compromises that would allow
me to enjoy the Colorado state of mind while she got on the mtt
grind. Once I agreed we got all the travel arrangements sorted
quickly and packed for an early morning flight.." [+]

[UPDATED: 03/08/12] PLAYER N scribes a tale
of grifters, sleaze balls, and beautiful card sharks all
hustling on the Coast.

"Thick
cigarette breath assaulted me as the man in the tattered Red Sox
jacket put his hand on my shoulder, "Hey boss, spare a
dollar..." it hung there not as a question but an instruction. I
couldn't sidestep it or the man. His gently tightening grip,
neither affectionate nor comforting, but oddly somehow both soft
and malevolent made the hairs on my neck stand up. The harsh
cold wind pushed at me, up the darkened street gaining speed
between the concrete buildings. It buttressed me helping the man
stop me on that corner.

I gave him a steely look, and he inhaled quickly through his
nostrils, "Sorry guy." I tried to wave him off, but his hand
didn't move. I had to look him in the eye.

Quiet, gray blue eyes surprised me, they looked like they still
had the sparkle of youth, maybe a forty years old but his
weathered face told a different story. Craggy, fractured and
leathery ridges told of many more years and hardship born of
living outdoors. Then in a flash, those eyes lost their luster
and bore into m

These 2 players are a main
staple at the Harrahs weekly tournaments and they prove that
with hard work and perseverance...you can be successful in
this game. I tried to think of all the HHs that we have all
dissected together...years worth. It would be nice to see
them both make the final table.

With his patented Milam Trucking
hat on and the cowboy boots on...local poker player Kenny
Milam moves on to day 5 of the biggest tournament of the
year. He bags right at 376k. Again...it Would be pretty cool if he
makes the Final Table and Vegas is flooded with Milam
Trucking hats and shirts.

"Wild Bill" Phillips...What can I say here except if there
was ever a person in this world that deserves this...it is
you. Today may be the biggest day of your life. No matter
what happens...you have a ton of people who are
proud
of you starting with 3 small ones back in Louisiana(Whats up
with Signal Mountain, TN...lol)...time to do work kid.

FOR ALL THE LOCALS STUCK BACK IN CAJUN
LAND...COUSHATTA IS RUNNING THEIR SUMMER POKER CLASSIC

Coushatta Casino and Resort in Kinder...great pool...same
structures but they have added a seniors event on the
Tuesday. Wednesday is the "Survivor" tourney where you can
win your seat into both the $500 on Thurs...and the $1000
Main Event on Friday. The Buy-in is a straight $1k...and
they have strategically placed Free self serve Icee Machines
through out the whole cosino. Google then to get more info

WSOP MAIN EVENT 2015
"TRUCKER" KENNY MILAM STACKING CHIPS:

With is patented Milam Trucking
hat on and the cowboy boots on...local poker player Kenny
Milam bags a nice stack of $219k. Would be pretty cool if he
makes the Final Table and Vegas is flooded with Milam
Trucking hats and shirts.
Other GCPers bagging nicely are Andrew Stringer...Tomas
Teran is right there with Kenny. ..Mike "The Mouth" Matusow
has a little over $200k...Chris Moorman at $190k...Kyle
Cartwright has around 175ish...Brian Hawkins(pic) is at 135

We have a single "Minion" left after day one...co-owner of
this site "Wild Bill"
Phillips. He bagged somewhere around $40kish. Lots of
fireworks went off on the private minion page as we had an
investor who decided to post some stuff that was considered
"Inappropriate" to many. For those of us who know and have
played with this person in then past...we actually thought
his FB account might have been hacked...either that or he
was on one hell of a bender when he posted was he did...Onto
positive notes..."Wild Bill" will be crushing it today at
the Rio...I predict he bags 137K which I wouild think will
be a little above avg. LETS GO BILL!!

A little good luck to
Kenny...I found this pic of him sporting a Bama hat...LOL

WUNSTEL WITH ALL THE CHIPS, WSOP
UPDATE:
WUNSTEL FIRST IN CHIPS IN PLO EVENT WITH 19 LEFT:

Keep knocking on the door and
just maybe somebody will answer. A summer of deep runs
by local players continues, hopefully this time a bracelet
will be waiting for Corrie Wunstel when the door is finally
answered. So far, so good.

The Baton Rouge
player has almost double the stack of second place Shane
Abbot with 1.2 million. Matt Colvin of Dallas, TX is
in third with 520k. Wunstel won a massive at the end
of last night to bring a lot of bullets back for his mission
today.

Also, in contention is the ever dangerous
Jared Ingles of Dry Prong, LA. He's got 292k.
First place pays 266k. Every player is guaranteed 8k,
with the laddering up to the bigger paydays about a table
away. GCP's Jonathan Little busted in 25th
place, Jonathan Gaviao of Gainseville, TX left in 23rd
place. Jason Gladden of Hattiesburg, MS made the
money, so too San Antonio's Jim Willerson, Knoxville's Eric
Brelsford, and Houston's Seth Bearden.

Good
luck to Jared and Corrie today. Get that bling.
Also, we saw that Caufman Talley added another of many WSOP
cashes this year in the Split Format. Sean Winter of
Jacksonville went deep in the 10k Six Handed championship
finishing 15th and winning 27k.

JASON MERCIER WINS FOURTH BRACELET:

It's been a good year to be from Florida. Mercier
won the 5k No Limit Hold'em Event and 633K. The Fort
Lauderdale pro is quickly climbing the short list of
multiple bracelet winners.

Please give us a
like and read links to other articles and stories not always
featured on here. Couple of good ones up there right
now from Bluff Magazine including Vanessa Rousso's impending
Big Brother reality show TV debut. Here's that link
again
FACEBOOK.

MONSTER STACKS AND MORE AT WSOP:BAROUSSE OVER A MILLION:

There are only seven players
with bigger stacks than Blake Barousse. There are also
only 271 others that stand in his way from his first
bracelet. With 1,003,000 in chips he'll have a lot of
ammunition to fire in Day 3 of the Monster stack tournament.
The players return already in the money and guaranteed 6k at
the cashier's cage. The number they are all looking at
is the 1.2 million for first.

Hoyt Corkins went to
bed with 844k in his bag. Jason Su of Austin, TX will
return to 643k, fellow Texan bryan Sneed of Houston has
399k. Kyle Cartwright finished with 375k.
Michael Horchoff of River Ridge, LA is making another run
with 352k. Tim Burt ended the night with 324k.
Houstonians Pedro Rios (275k) and Jackson White (271k) got
some work to do but still bagged. Baton Rouge's Josh
Mancuso is cashing again in another gimick event and also
returns for day 3. So too, friend of GCP Jeremy
Halaska.

Doug Ashmore of Houston made the
money but didn't make day 3. He was joined at the
cashier's cage by three players from Autin, TX; Mark
Napolitano and John Hay and Raouf Malek. Also cashing
were Dustin Brunner of Jasper, AL, Rick Basham of Destin,
FL, Herb Montalbano of Addison, TX, Stephen Falcon of
Houston, Luther Tran of Bayou La Batre, AL, and Andrew
Meibaum of Metaire, LA.

LITTLE FINISHES
SIXTH AND RELEASES NEW BOOK:

In a much more subdued and more likeable manner than
Phil Hellmuth Jonathan Little is a master of self-promotion.
What's he do on the night of his book release (also features
chapters by fellow Gulf Coasters Chad Holloway and Ed
Miller)? He makes a final table in the 5k NLHE 8
Handed event. Then he manages to bust just in time to
go sign some books for his fans. 85k payday for
Jonathan.

Cord Garcia of Houston second bracelet
chase of the series ended in 25th place. Grayson
Ramage of Austin TX won 11k for 35th and also from the same
hometown (feel like we've mentioned Austin a lot this
update) Sampath De Silva won just under 10k for 48th.

Barbour, featured in our
"Ladies" section, link above, is one of a ton of great
female players from our region. She proved it again as
she fell in heads up action to Ben Zamani (Boca Raton) who
won 460k to go with the bracelet. In basketball there
is a phrase "Live by the Three, Die by the Three," in poker
that could easily by "Live by the Bluff, Die by the Bluff."

Barbour bowed out after repping the type of hand her
opponent had on a two ace board. She's capable of
brilliant, pressure applying bluffs and this time it just
didn't work out for her. Her top two finish was well
deserved as she made a tremendous fold to not go out very
early at the final table when her AQ rivered an Ace.
However, she figured out her opponent's shove meant he had
better (he did AK).

Fun final table to watch
although we hated the way it started. When it was ten
handed Caufman Talley of Lafayette flopped a set of 8s
against chipleader Ben Zamani. Only problem, Zamani
flopped a set of aces to bust Talley. Just gross.
Talley earned 26k. Next we turned our rooting
attention to Baton Rouge's Kevin Benoit only to see him the
first player eliminated from the official final table
earning 33k for ninth. Great run by both players.

It might surprise you to
discover Shannon Shorr has yet to win a WSOP bracelet.
In the 1500 NLHE event he came really close finishing 5th
for 43k. James Sievers of Monroe, LA finished 22nd.
One event later Jovon Williams of Gretna, LA and David
Nicholson both made the top 40 of the popular 6 Handed
format.

MILLIONAIRE MAKER LOADED FINAL
TABLE:

The point of the low buy-in
Millionaire Maker is to give some novice a shot at a WSOP
bracelet and a huge score. That didn't keep Mike
Sexton, Erick "Don't Lend'em" Lindgren, or Oivier Busquet
from crashing the final table. However Adrian Buckley
of Westminister, CO walked away with the most loot of
the bunch. The highest finishing locals were Jonathan
Tamayo (36k) of Humble, TX, Hoyt Corkins (29k) of Glenwood,
AL, and Michael Horchoff (16k) of River Ridge, LA.

PHIL HELLMUTH WINS BRACELET 14:

For
a guy who can't play or adapt, Phil Hellmuth runs pretty
good. How's this for stas: 109 cashes, 52 Final
Tables, 14 Bracelets. Yeah, you are reading that
correcting in just under half the tournaments he's cashed in
at the WSOP he's made the final table. In just under
1/3rd of the final tables he's made he's won the tournament.
His second place finishes is almost as high--meaning the guy
gets to the best part of the money over and over again.
This time he won a 10k Razz event, the same game he lost to
Ted Forrest heads up to last year. Oh yeah, his last
bracelet was also in Razz. He also earned 271k for his
time.

MORE TO RIO THAN JUST RING
EVENTS: Andy
Moon (Vidalia, LA) and Steve Bierman (NOLA) are just a
couple of local players cashing in the massive deep stack
fields. With first place prizes that tickle 60K not a
bad investment for $235. Go
here
for complete results.

WSOP: MILLY MAKER DAY 1 CHIP
COUNTS:

TALLEY, NICHOLSON, HORCHOFF,
COSPOLICH AND MORE MAKE DAY TWO:Lots of
rooting interests chasing glory and over one million
dollars. 1130 players returned after 7275 entrants
started action in two flights. Houston native Cord Garcia
who won the Colossus is in the mix, trying to pull off a
double in the "gimmick" events. Gimmick events?
Monster fields with low buy-ins and cute names; couple more
left with the Monster Stack and Lucky 777 still to play.
First place will pay over 1.2 million and everybody at the
final table will earn over 115k. Bubble should burst
early. It's an 11 am restart.Caufman Talley, Lafayette, 104k
David Nicholson, Perkinston, MS 86.6k
Patrick Horrigan, NOLA 77k
Josh Mancuso, Baton Rouge, 71k
Michael Horchoff (pictured), River Ridgeg, LA 52k
Andy Moon, Vidalia, LA 42.2k
Brian Cospolich, River Ridge, LA 38k
Earl Barron, 40k, Clarksdale, MS
Joseph Schmitt, NOLA 23.4k Kevin
Baker, LaGrange, GA 19.3k
Thomas Pullens, Picayune, MS 18.2
Melanie Weisner, Houston, TX 12.6

WSOP, BRACELETS, CASHES AND
CHEATS:

LEHR
STEERS CLEAR OF ALLEDGED CHEAT AND WINS BRACELET:Bracelet number
two found its way to Keith Lehr's wrist when he prevailed in
the 10k Heads-up No Limit Championship. The Shreveport
nativve won 334k after dispatching Paul Volpe in pretty
quick fashion in his final match. The Shreveport
gambler won his first bracelet 12 years ago, this one
arguably was much harder. Valeriu Coca his quarter
final opponent has been accused of cheating, but a leery
Lehr managed to beat him anyway.

HOUSTON WE DON'T HAVE A PROBLEM:

We
sniffed out a storyline in the way Texans and Houstonians
were attacking the Colossus. When the dust settled
Cord Garcia won the event and fellow Houstonian Ray Henson
finished third. The final table included some
crazy hands most notably the three way all in to eliminate
Paul Lentz in fourth place. Garcia bet, Paul Lentz
shoved, Henson reshoved, and Garcia insta-called with AA.
Lentz held Ac2c and Henson AK. That pot pushed
Garcia to the title. Congrats to Caufman Talley who
finished 17th winning 38k. Bobby Toye won a hair
over 5k and Mihail Karasoulis of Metairie won exactly 5k
finishing 499th.

SHORR FIFTH IN 1500
NLHE:

GCP blogger Shannon Shorr earned
43k finishing fifth in Event 11. The Tuscaloosa, AL
pro is soon to turn 30, and his birthday present to himself
of a bracelet may have to wait a few days. James Siever of
Monroe, LA added another cash to his WSOP with a 23rd place
finish.

PAUL HEBERT GETS BIGGEST CAREER
CASH AT VENETIAN:

Thanks to Kenny Milam
for this tidbit... Pierre Part, Louisiana's native son
Paul Hevert won 49k in the 600 NLHE 120k guarantee event.
They did a three way chop and he got the second place chunk.
Congrats to Paul who is a fixture on the Gulf Coast scene.
We've heard he may be parlaying this score into a WSOP Main
Event seat. Good luck Paul.

Monkey and Jonathan Little give WSOP tips. Nolan Dalla
continues to pump out quality content from the center of the
poker world. Davy Murrah talks poker friends.
Shannon Shorr checks in before his 30th birthday.
Start clicking some good reads.

ESKIMO
CLARK PASSES:

Clark, a one of kind old
school gambler, originally from New Orleans recently died.
Chad Holloway (pokernews) and Nolan Dalla (look left) both
recently wrote fair remembrances of a man who has been in
some of poker's biggest games. That said of late he's
problem even more famous for his ability to angle for a
stake to get back in those games. His first half of a
long poker career was notable for his wins. His second
half, perhpas is best summed up by a famous, but probably
unture urban legend about Clark. It involved him and
fellow scamp Sam Grizzle in a WSOP bathroom.
"Somebody" overheard the follow the conversation.

Sam: How you doing today Eskimo, you got any chips?
Eskimo: I got a bunch how about you?Sam:
Stacks and stacks. You want trade 10%?Eskimo:
Absolutely.(Clark walks out and a third player
approaches Grizzle)Player: You got a raw deal,
Eskimo just busted, he doesn't have any chips.Sam:
Awww, that's okay, I never even bought in.

COLOSSUS UPDATE:

A COLOSSAL
COLONIC:

Poker players
inherently possess some common skillsets and qualities.
Many of our shared traits like critical thinking and a
natural questioning of authority can make us good brave
poker players. That streak of independence combined
with intelligence at times can produce a massive group who
are all really good at doing one other thing besides poker
and that's complaining and complaining and complaining some
more. Since, we don't always agree it means any decision a
floor makes will have at least one person foaming at the
mouth. Makes running a tournament tough to do as
literally every guy in the room thinks he's the smartest guy
there and he can do it better. To read the rest head
over to Wild Bill's blog:
DINE ON THE WHALES.

COLOSSUS UPDATE:

DREAM STILL
ALIVE:

There are roughly 500 players still with a shot at
winning the Colossus. Friend of GCP Caufman Talley is
21st in chips. Seems like it's his turn considering
how well his running mates have done so far this series.
Anothere big storlyine; they do everything big in
Texas so it's no surprise the names of Texans, particularily
Houstonians litter the chip counts and payouts for an event
called the Colossus. At the top and 12th in chips is
grinder Ray Henson from Houston. Behind him David
Chen, Lance Garcia, Gabriel Andrade, Ted Leva, Isidro
Sifuentes, Jose Cavazos, Josh Billingsley, David Aue, Sam
Robinson, and Bassel Assi. Also with chips and a
prayer, Greg James Vicksburg, MS, Ryan Lawson, San Antonio,
Thu Tran, Mobile, AL, Bobby Toye Baton Rouge, Gates Harris
West Point, MS, John Dolan, and Mihail Karasoulis, Metairie,
LA.

COLOSSUS CASHING:

Did we mention Houstonians and Texans had a field day in
this event? Good because a slew of players from
Houston made the money including: Dan Schmiech,
Larry Karambis, Christopher Clayton, Douglas Ashmore, Hunter
Frey, John Sisneros, Mojgan Stringham, Christopher Hall,
Mitchell Moore, and Kevin Casey. Austin almost matched
Houston for Texans in the money including: Brian Rue,
Gary Harvey, Jay Lee, Cody Ross, John Duncan. San
Antonio featured Brad Hanson, Maziar Keshavarzi, Shaun
Dery, and Betsy Rudell.

Mississippians in the money included; Matt Lansdon,
Biloxi, Leslie Roussell, Laurel, Robert Briggs, Madison, and
Elton BeBee Ridgeland. Also congrats to Brian
Walsingham, Kristen Deardorff and Chen Chen for
cashing. On the other side of our footprint congrats
to Gloria Whimper, Kelley Slay, James Duguid, David Jackson,
of Jacksonville, FL.

HYPERACTIVE:

His friend Corrie Wunstel made a deep run in the 5k
event and BlakeB couldn't help but go deep in the 1k Hyper
Holdem Event. It's like a Turbo but faster (another
new to the WSOP event). Barousse led a group of
Louisiana players as they sprinted into the money. He
finished 16th for 9k. Joining him at a busy cashier's
cage were Judy Leblanc of New Iberia, Ryan Lenaghan, and
Jame Sievers of Monroe. Also in the money Philip Hui
and James Scarpulla of San Antonio as well as Jason Mercier.
Actor James Woods followed up a Shoot-out final table with
another in the money finish.

WSOP BEGINS:

5K DEEP RUN BY CORRIE
WUNSTEL:

Corrie Wunstel gave Gulf
Coasters an early sweat to the hot, fresh World Series of
Poker 2015 edition. In the 5k No Limit Hold'Em Event
he made day two with 20 other players. A field loaded
with pros including second place finisher bryn Kenny, Greg
Merson (4th), Amir Lehavot, Byron Kaverman, Doc Sands, and
Nam Le. Unfortunately, he ran top two into a straight
early on to end his bracelet hopes. Still earned over
14k. Great run Slim!

MORTON DAVIS
FINISHES 11TH IN CASINO EMPLOYEES EVENT 1:

Okay we fibbed, the earliest sweat for Gulf Coasters,
particulariy for those that Splash the Pot or members of
Deez Nits out of Pensacola was Morton Davis. In event
one, which awards a bracelet but no POY points Davis ran
well early. He finished 12th after his overpair ran
into a set and won 4.5k for his effort.

NICHOLSON WITH CHIPS... IN THE MONEY:

David
Nicholson returns with 99k in the $1500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or
Better. Only 48 other players stand between him and a
bracelet, but most have more chips... for now. Ky MacPherson
of Austin, TX also returns as does Douglass Moss of
Valdosta, GA. Captain Tom Franklin added to his long
list of cashes but has already visited the cashier's cage
and will not be purchasing a New World Series Champion
jacket in honor of this event.

COLOSSUS $565
LOTTO DAY1A RESULTS:

Laurel, MS's Leslie
Roussell garnered the biggest stack of Gulf Coasters in the
first flight with 81.3k. Erick Lindgren has his long
list of debtees also advanced. Brian Walsingham made
it through with 44k as too TK Miles and Shannon Shorr.
Also bagging were a trio of Lafayetters headlined by Tai Cao
and including Eric Matthieu and Brandon Hess.
Ryan Lee of Hammond, Jason Gooch of Ruston, LA,
and Frank Folino of Luling also put a chip count and
chippies into a large plastic bag. Good luck all.

Last year the minions invaded
the Rio for the WSOP Main Event for the first time ever.
Complete story, involving 40k in cash and a truck stop
here. This year
the roster has changed a little but the group is coming back
for more and planning on deeper runs. If you are
interested in owning a piece of the minions you need to go
right here right now as
shares are selling briskly. Congrats to Seville Hale,
Michael "Carwash" Schneider, and GCP's Wild Bill Phillips on
their selection, and thanks to Will Souther for spearheading
this effort again.

CHAD HOLLOWAY'S ZOMBIES ATTACK THE
WSOP:

The former
Tulane law student won a bracelet a couple of years ago and
now debuts his first ever comic at the WSOP. Not just
any comic, one an Academy Award winner requested to be in.
This guy is truly living the
life. You can buy the WSOZ (World Series of Zombies)
comic now at Comixologoy ( a digital version) for $1.99.
The limited edition paper version will be available for
purchase at the Blue Shark Optics booth in the Rio for
$5.00.

Walking around the Rio about halfway
through the Series, perhaps this concept will seem obvious
to you. Players are kind in that groggy punchdrunk
daze. Course most them are not undead and nor are they
focused on eating your brains. Chad asks the
question what if they were? This book looks like a lot
of fun.

INTERNET POKER IN THE MISSISSIPPI MUD:On the docket before
online poker gets legalized are the more attractive
additions of sports betting and lottery games. While
the casinos are slumping and that seems like an opening to
increase taxable gambling revenues lawmakers don't quite
figure it that way. Rather they cite the curious stat
that half of Mississippi's residents don't have a computer
or Internet Access (you know... you can get the Internet on
the computer these days) as evidence of... what? That
the other half doesn't want to play poker. to read
more of your elected officials "thoughts" go to Cardplayer
here.

JASON MERCIER'S INTERNET POKER
GAME IN THE OPPOSITE OF MUD:

The Florida pro and GCP Blogger can't stop scooping
Scoop events over on Pokerstars. Course he to habitate
in Holland to win all those online poker tournaments but
Dutch life is agreeing with him. He's won three events
in the last week and as of this writing is deep in a few
more.

For more news that no
longer qualifies as the latest, because... it's no longer
recent, follow the link below...

" Poker
wise I have cashed in a few event s since I last blogged. I will
highlight them in this blog but keep in mind that they were
months ago so my comments will be based off what I remember of
the situations…etc. Back in July/August of 2014 I played the
Coushatta event and went deep in the preliminary event. I made
it down to 2 tables left with about 16-17 players…only person I
knew to be a good player left was Dave “Diesel” Nicholson…I was
working my 25-30 bigs looking for a good spot. I get it in
against a short stack my A-K vs his A-Q…he hits a Queen…I am now
down to 12-13 bigs. Very next hand…I look down at QQ…the UTG
player on my right with about 30 bigs raised 4-5x the BB….I
rip…big stack Asian Kid OTB goes deep in the tank…He’s
posturing…I think to myself, “Oh great…hes got KKs or AAs and he
is trying to get the UTG guy to stick his all in as well”…He
finnnallly rips as well…UTG players says…”I don’t think I can
fold these” and calls and shows KK…Asian kid AA…I picked up a
little over $2k."[+]

[UPDATED:
06/07/15]
Poker Monkey shares his insights on the tournament poker
circuit, life in general, and the battle to make it happen:

"If
I was sadistic (okay, if I was REALLY sadistic) I would say this
is my favorite week in poker, out of the entire year. I just
wonder, scratching my chin, how many of you already know where
this is headed!!!???

I decided last night while texting
back and forth to my good buddy Kai Landry, that I had to post a
blog about this subject. And I was going to do it last
night...but dammit if Squirrel didn't slip me the melatonin long
before I was ready to call it a night. After all, I had just won
a 50/50 sit n go on Bovada good for $60, then smashed a guy
heads up in an Omaha 8-b match for another $60...that is the one
THING on Bovada I have been murdering lately, heads up Omaha-8
PLO matches. I think I'm something like 14-2 this week. And
last, in my 3rd contest, a little $10 single table SNG...I was
heads up...and close to even...I raise this guy, get
re-raised...and shove on him with AQs...and he calls...with 46h.
Are you similar to me? When you see that matchup...especially
online...don't you just KNOW you're going to lose? I do. And I
did. 2nd place. $27. Whatever. Then I passed out.." [+}

(UPDATED
11/11/14) Florida's Jason Mericer is one of the best poker
players in the world. Why wouldn't you read his blog?

"I'm back home in Florida, relaxing for most of November before
heading back out for more tournaments in December. Now that the
NBA season is underway, I'm taking advantage of the time off to
watch some hoops, including following how my Miami Heat are
going to do without LeBron James this year.

I actually just took a trip up to Charlotte, North Carolina to
watch the Heat play the Hornets a few days ago. A friend of mine
has courtside tickets and invited me to come up because he knows
how big of a Heat fan I am. I've wanted to sit courtside for a
Heat game for quite some time so was really excited to
experience it for the first time. We sat right next to the
Hornets bench, so hearing the interaction between the players
and the coaches was pretty awesome. It was one of the most fun
things I've ever done and I can't wait to do it again.."[+]

"One of my poker buddies is missing. Yes, I happen to know his
name (first and last), from which city he hails, and even his
college football allegiance. I won't call his name here for his
own privacy. I know he reads this blog from time to time and
maybe he'll comment and let me (us?) know what's going on.

I've talked to several of our mutual poker acquaintances and
they don't know what happened to him either. They all know the
same thing I know.........we haven't seen him for quite a while
and he was one of the regulars at my home casino.

My
buddy's disappearance got me to thinking.........we poker
players really don't know a whole lot about each other in
general. I know a lot of poker players by their first name only.
No idea what their last name is, where they live, or anything
about their lives. I call them my "poker buddies" but that's not
quite true. I never see any of these guys anywhere other than a
poker room. Some of them I play against on a regular basis.
Several times a week. But I don't really know them. And,
conversely, they don't really know me either.." [+}

(UPDATED
01/14/15) A
new title but the same blog, Goondingy or Big Smoove and pure aggression on the felt examines
live poker action:

"Greetings and salutations! I did it, I played a bit of poker! I
met my buddy Wild Bill at Lauberge Casino in Baton Rouge to play
the $100 tournament and follow up with some cash games. I got to
the last three tables before I busted. Had to play like a nit,
could not catch anything and when I raised most folks folded.
We got there before the tournament started and were instant
alternates, something about a supervisor not being on the floor
to help open up another table, but after about 30 minutes they
opened a table and about 30 more minutes later I was called to
action. Played very tight and just observed, I wanted to get my
feel for the game back and it took a very long time. I picked up
blinds where it was necessary had one scare where a gentleman
chased me to the river and folded on my river bet but my
downfall hand was pocket jacks in the cut-off, I believe the
blinds were 1k 2k with a $100 ante. " [+]

[UPDATED 06/07/15] ReidG ...who was raised in New Orleans and
lives in Mobile brings his poker Saints
football perspective on to GCP.NET.

"Sean Payton and Mickey
Loomis are on the warpath.

It has been quite a spectacle
to witness.

In the three days since Free Agency
commenced, the Saints have operated at a dizzying, furious pace.

First the blockbuster: Graham and a 4th for Unger and a 1st.
Then in quick succession: Grubbs for a 5th. Browner. Spiller.
Stills for a 3rd and Ellerbe. Keenan Lewis's future as a Saint
hanging in the balance.

There were also the recent
departures of Pierre Thomas, Curtis Lofton, and Corey White; the
restructures/paycuts for Bunkley, Colston, and Hawthorne; the
re-signing of Ramon Humber; and, of course, the contract
extension for Mark Ingram. "[+]

[UPDATED:
10/21/14] THE POKER BAT is an online player from Northern
Louisiana who is trying out blogging to help him with his game.
Bat will delve into hand scenarios and discuss issues facing
today's online player.

"From his poker blind, the Bat watched Kai magnificently wade
through that minefield of Q10 loving princesses and get to heads
up action. Heads up action in a ladies tournament… creepy smile,
creepy wink, creepy nudge (somebody needs to design that
emoticon). There the Bat hears some of the exiled ladies
talking. One of them a brutish looking tight end for an Canadian
Football League team tells the others, if Kai wins he’s not
getting out of the parking lot with the pendant.

This got the Bat picking his nose, actually, the Bat was already
knuckle deep, this got the Bat thinking, about poor Kai getting
jumped in the parking lot. So taking stock of the future mob,
the Bat envisioned the scene if he won:

Kai exits the elevator, with the Ted Nugent muzak fading away as
he walks into the IP garage, a car skids out in the distance,
but this floor of the garage is empty except for Kai’s car (a
vintage Aston Matin) parked by itself overlooking the beauty of
the bay of biloxi. As Kai, walks sipping from his shaken not
stirred victory martini, the lone light above his car flickers
rapidly and turns off, turning the garage to shadow. Dripping
water echoes loudly and Kai can’t help but shake the idea he’s
being watched" [+]